Frontzak finds comfort zone, leads Montini to regional

LOMBARD – Sean Frontzak is always relaxed on the mound and found his comfort zone in Saturday's regional final.

The Montini junior limited Glenbard South to just four hits and one run en route to a regional title. The Broncos won 3-1 after taking the lead with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Frontzak retired the last 13 batters he faced. He struck out six in the game and didn't walk anyone.

"The change started to work towards the end," Frontzak said. "I started striking more people out. The defense was working."

Montini advanced to play Riverside Brookfield on Thursday in a rematch of last year's regional final. It was the Broncos' first regional title since 2010.

The pressure of a big game that was close the whole way didn't bother Frontzak, who seems to keep the same demeanor no matter the situation.

"You go out and talk to him on the mound and it's like 'Wake up! Are you awake?'" coach Bob Landi said. "He's got a real nice demeanor as a pitcher. Nothing seems to rattle him. He's pitched some big games for us this year and he's gotten beat by some very, very good teams. If you watch him in the middle of a game you wouldn't know if he was winning or losing. His demeanor is the same."

While Frontzak was dealing, the Montini offense was doing whatever possible to scrape runs across. Pat Hennessy had an RBI single in the second, but the Raiders tied the game in the top of the third. The Broncos broke the deadlock in the fifth when an Eddie Bava fielder's choice resulted in two RBIs in a strange play.

None of that bothered Frontzak, who kept dealing.

"He had good stuff," Landi said. "He was hitting his spots well. His change up was really good today. He was throwing a devastating change up that caught them a couple times off guard."

Frontzak is a part of a three-man rotation for Montini, which includes his older brother Sean Frontzak and Tyler Quick. All three entered the sectional with ERAs under two.

"In my time at Montini, which is the last six years, we've never had three pitchers like this," Landi said.